1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector in which a pair of male and female connector housings of the multi-pole type can be fitted together and disconnected from each other.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-58523, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a connector of the above-described type will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 19 and 20. A male connector housing 2 (which is one connector housing of the connector 1) is made of a synthetic resin, and has a hood cover 3 of a generally square tubular shape fixedly secured thereto by press fitting or the like. This hood cover 3 is slidably mounted in a holder 5 of a generally square tubular shape mounted on a mounting member (not shown) such as a panel of a vehicle body, the holder 5 being made of a synthetic resin. Elastic retaining piece portions 4 each having a rectangular retaining hole 4a are formed integrally at opposite sides of the hood cover 3, respectively. Elastic arms 6 are formed integrally at opposite sides of the holder 5, respectively, and each of the elastic arms 6 has at its distal end a projection 6a which can be releasably engaged or retained in the associated retaining hole 4a.
In a fitting stand-by condition of the male connector housing 2 in which the projections 6a of the elastic arms 6 of the holder 5 are provisionally retained respectively in the retaining holes 4a of the elastic retaining piece portions 4 of the hood cover 3, a hood portion 7a of a female connector housing 7 (which is the other connector housing of the connector), made of a synthetic resin, is fitted into a space between the male connector housing 2 and the hood cover 3, and then the elastic arms 6 of the holder 5 are flexed (elastically deformed) outwardly respectively by projections 8, formed respectively on opposite sides of the female connector housing 7, so that the provisionally-retaining engagement of the male connector housing 2 with the holder 5 is canceled. Therefore, the two connector housings 2 and 7, thus fitted together, can be slid relative to the holder 5 toward the mounting member.
When the two connector housings 2 and 7, fitted together, are to be disconnected from each other, stopper projections 3a, formed on the hood cover 3, abut respectively against stopper receiving portions 5b formed respectively at front ends of guide grooves 5a formed in inner surfaces of the holder 5, thereby limiting the forward movement (forwardly-projected stand-by position) of the male connector housing 2 relative to the holder 5.
In the above-described connector 1, however, the male connector housing 2 and the hood cover 3 are projected from the holder 5 in the fitting stand-by condition of the male connector housing 2, and also hood cover 3 is provisionally retained on the holder 5, with the male connector housing 2 exposed to the exterior through the hood cover 3. Therefore, when the female connector housing 7 is to be fitted on the male connector housing 2, there is a possibility that the female connector housing 7 strikes against the front end of the male connector housing 2 or the front end of the hood cover 3 at the front end of the fitting space, so that the provisionally-retaining engagement of the hood cover 3 with the holder 5 is canceled, and as a result the two connector housings 2 and 7 fail to be fitted together.